Friday, August 14, 2009

The Apatow Experience

Since the 40 Year Old Virgin was released Judd Apatow became a well known comedy director, writer, producer. Of course he had already done the great show Freaks and Geeks which would star James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel (as well as the lesser known Martin Starr) who would later go onto star in his movies. But the 40 Year Old Virgin was a commerically successful movie and lead Apatow on his new found comedy genius role of movies. I picked my top ten favorite movies that Mr. Apatow has some role in, so here is the list!

10. Cable Guy - I enjoyed it when I first saw it back in 1996. Apatow produced this one starring Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, and his wife Leslie Mann, oh and its directed by Ben Stiller another older Apatow partner(they worked on the Ben Stiller show together Apatow produced and wrote on the show). Also loook for an early role from Jack Black and Owen Wilson, who he would both later go onto work with on Year One and Drillbit Taylor.

9. Step Brothers - Apatow and Will Ferrell team up again and reunite the gang from Talladega Nights, John C. Riley and Ferrell who were best buddies in Talladega Nights are now step brothers who hate each other. This movie is really childish but I laughed quite a bit. Apatow produced on this one.

8. Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby- Ferrell is really great as Ricky Bobby and look for Sasha Baron Cohen as his rival. The movie was produced by Apatow and directed by Adam McKay. Mckay, Ferell, and Apatow would later team up and make the web site FunnyorDie.com.

7. Funny People- The newest comedy from Apatow, this one he wrote, produced and directed. Apatow teamed up with long time friend Adam Sandler who plays a dying comedian. The movie stars a lot of the regulars from Apatows movies. I have only seen it once but I really enjoyed it.

6. Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy - Anchorman was produced by Apatow, it was released in 2004 and sort of started this great roll for Apatow. The movie stars Ferell, but also a lot of other actors Apatow would later go onto use like Paul Rudd and Steve Carell. I watched the movie a few months ago and it doesn't hold up as well as I remembered, but is still full of laughs.

5. Pineapple Express- Apatow produced and wrote the story for this one. This movie had his touches all over it. The two main stars were from his show Freaks and Geeks (Rogen and Franco) and is most action packed of any movie Apatow has worked on. The stoner duo is brill ant and the movie is just hilarious.

4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall- It was tight for me between this one and Pineapple. FSM was produced by Apatow and stars another one of his Freaks and Geeks alum, Jason Segel (who also wrote the movie and the songs in the movie). The movie is fucking great and will make you laugh tons but when I saw it I was going through a break-up and thought it shows some reality to how break-ups can usually go. This movie also starred newcomer Russell Brand who will be in another Apatow produced movie Get Him To The Greek in 2010.

3. Superbad- Superbad is one of the best teen movies I have ever seen. Jonah Hill and Mihcael Cera were brilliantly cast and can act and make you laugh a lot. Hill in particular is slowly becoming one of my favorites to watch. The movie was written by Seth ROgen when he was 13! Yeah, fucking 13! I just re watched the movie recently and it really holds up well. Also launched Christopher Mintz-Plasse into stardom, of course he was McLovin the 23 year old Hawaiian Organ Donor. I also wanted to mention a few other movie that have the Apatow look and feel to them which would have been on my list but were not touched by Apatow.

-Role Models which stars Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.-I Love You, Man which stars Rudd and Jason Segel and is in the vain of an Apatow like comedy.-Zach and Miri Make a Porno, eh I know Kevin Smith did this one but seriously it has a lot of cast from movies by Apatow (Rogen and Banks) , also think Apatow would have done a better job...sorry Mr. Smith.-Accepted which i think is an underrated comedy and has some people who would go onto star in Apatow movies like Justin Long and Jonah Hill.

2. 40 Year Old Virgin- This is the movie that showed you could do a good R rated comedy and have it be well done and hilarious. Apatow wrote, produced and directed this one. Steve Carell gives the movie heart and can also play a good virgin. I cant believe it came out way back in 2005. Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jane Lynch, and Elizabeth Banks. This movie is still one of his best and has a good story and romance to it. I think its a classic for many years to come.

1. Knocked Up- I know I know, why did I choose Knocked Up? Well its written, produced, and directed by Apatow. But this movie just makes me love movies. I think its a great piece of filmmaking, its keeps you laughing throughout but also has a good story and the scenes of the guys (real life friends) played by Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, and Jay Baruchel are some of the best scenes in the whole movie. I would pay to watch these guys just riff off one another for hours. You also have the forced romance between the soon to be parents, played by Rogen and the hot Katherine Heigl. The movie also looks at marriage, like the one between Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd. I think Apatow really gives a look into a real life family and problems that arise when kids come and the fun goes away. I would also highly recommend you get the 2 disc DVD, I watched almost every extra and just ads to the enjoyment of the film.

Well, that's the list for now. Apatow is on an amazing run of cinema. Lets hope he can keep it up and shell out even more hilarious films! If not...we have these amazingly good movies to keep watch on dvd!